Investing.com - Asian shares mostly fell on Friday and as investors looked ahead to more corporate earnings due during the session and were cautious on the dollar.
Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.42%. Shares of Nissan were down 4.68% after the automaker announced a 12.8% on-year fall in operating profit for its fiscal first quarter Thursday. The company recorded operating profit of 153.3 billion yen ($1.38 billion) for its April-to-June quarter, below forecasts for 171.45 billion yen, Reuters said.
Toshiba reached a deal to pay SCANA $2.168 billion to exit from incomplete U.S. nuclear projects undertaken by Toshiba subsidiary Westinghouse, Reuters reported. Toshiba was expected to make the payout in installments starting in October, Reuters said. Toshiba shares were down 8.23%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.21%, driven by broad-based losses across its sub-indexes. The heavily-weighted financials sub-index was down 1.6%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index edged down 0.54%. On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.5%.
U.S. stocks retreated from highs, weighed by selling pressure in technology and transportations shares after a raft of mixed corporate earnings spooked risk appetite, prompting investors to take profit on the recent rally which has seen U.S. indexes set fresh highs.
The main U.S. indexes made a bold start to the session, hitting record highs before turning negative, as investors had to contend with a raft of mixed economic reports.
Shares of Twitter closed more than 13% lower, after the social media company reported earnings and revenue growth that topped expectations but were offset by timid user growth for the quarter.
Ahead of Twitter’s earnings investors mulled over economic reports showing durable goods orders for June topped expectations, while initial jobless claims rose more than expected.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that initial jobless claims rose by more than expected to 244,000 in the week ended July 23, missing forecasts of a 7,000 decline.
In a separate report, core durable goods orders rose by 6.5% in June, the Commerce Department said Thursday, reflecting a sharp jump in orders for transportation equipment.
Meanwhile, a rise in energy failed to lift improvement sentiment, after crude futures settled at eight-weeks highs, on the back rising expectations that rising U.S. crude demand will help offset the glut in global supplies.
Corporate earnings continued to pour in after the closing bell, after Amazon (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AMZN) beat revenue expectations but missed earnings, reporting a 77% slump in profit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher at 21,796.55. The S&P 500 closed 0.63% lower while the Nasdaq Composite closed at 6382.19, down 0.36%.